Regulation Of Water And Electrolytes Balances:
Controlled excretion of water and electrolytes is very important for homeostasis. Because slight changes in osmolraity can cause server problems like hyperkalamia can cause cardiac arrhythmia and even cardiac arrest.
Intake of water and these electrolytes depends on the needs and eating habits of person. But kidneys are responsible for the control of any increased or decreased amount. For example if a person takes too much sodium, various mechanisms in kidneys are activated that causes excretion of sodium and brings back normal plasma osmolarity.
Where Are My Kidneys
The kidneys are small bean-shaped organs approximately 6 cm wide and 12 cm long and consist of two main layers an inner layer called the medulla and an outer layer called the cortex. Most people have two kidneys that are situated at the back of the abdomen on either side of the spine.
Graphic showing a section through the right kidney with the main structures labelled.
Growing Up With One Kidney
It is true, you can live with only one kidney. Some people are born with only one because the other one did not grow properly. Other times, the two kidneys touch each other when they are first growing and join together, making one kidney shaped like a horseshoe. People with these types of kidneys have to be very careful because they might get sick more easily than someone who has two kidneys.
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Right Vs Left Kidney:
Here are some of the main differences between left and right kidneys:
- The first and foremost difference is that left kidney is placed on the left side of mid line i.e vertebral column while right kidney on the right side.
- The main difference between both, as mentioned above is that the left kidney is places slightly above then the right kidney. The reason is the large right lobe of the liver that displaces the right kidney.
- Left kidney is related to 11th end 12th rib. While right kidney is related to 12th rib being lower then the left one.
- Left kidney is half to 1.5cm longer then the right kidney.
- Right kidney is related to right lobe of liver while left kidney is related to spleen.
- Left kidney is related anterior to spleen, supra renal gland, stomach, pancreas, left colic flexure and jejunum. And to 11th and 12th rib, psoas major, , diaphragm, quadratus lumborum, tendon of the transverses abdominis muscle, and transverse process of 1st lumber verterbra posteriorly. While the right kidney is related to right lobe of liver, right supra renal gland, right colic flexure and duodenum anterior. And to 12 rib, diaphragm, quadratus lumborum, psoas major, tendon of the transverses abdominis muscle, and transverse process of 1st lumber vertebrae posteriorly.
Why You Need Your Kidneys
Knowing what the primary functions of the kidneys are help you understand why theyre so important.
Theyre a critical part of maintaining homeostasis throughout the body. By filtering blood, regulating PH levels, circulating minerals and ions, and removing toxins through urine, they help the body stay balanced.
Any kind of kidney failure can lead to serious diseases or intrusive treatment methods like dialysis. Thats why its best to work to protect them now.
Read the rest of our content and keep checking back for more information.
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Kidney And Urinary System Parts And Their Functions
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Two kidneys. This pair of purplish-brown organs is located below the ribs toward the middle of the back. Their function is to:
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Remove waste products and drugs from the body
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Balance the body’s fluids
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Release hormones to regulate blood pressure
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Control production of red blood cells
The kidneys remove urea from the blood through tiny filtering units called nephrons. Each nephron consists of a ball formed of small blood capillaries, called a glomerulus, and a small tube called a renal tubule. Urea, together with water and other waste substances, forms the urine as it passes through the nephrons and down the renal tubules of the kidney.
Two sphincter muscles. These circular muscles help keep urine from leaking by closing tightly like a rubber band around the opening of the bladder.
Nerves in the bladder. The nerves alert a person when it is time to urinate, or empty the bladder.
Urethra. This tube allows urine to pass outside the body. The brain signals the bladder muscles to tighten, which squeezes urine out of the bladder. At the same time, the brain signals the sphincter muscles to relax to let urine exit the bladder through the urethra. When all the signals occur in the correct order, normal urination occurs.
Regulation Of Arterial Pressure:
Kidneys regulate arterial pressure by 2 machanisms. One is long term mechanism and another is short term mechanishm.
Short term Kidneys regulation of arterial pressure is by excreting variable amounts of water and sodium. Thus increasing or decreasing blood volume. While it helps in long term regulation by vasoactive substances such as renin which further helps to produce angiotensin 2.
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What Is The Function Of Our Kidneys
The kidneys are a very important organ in the body. They are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist, located just below the rib cage, one on each side of your spine. The kidneys are responsible for getting rid of waste products, drugs, and toxins through our urine.
Your kidneys also:
- Regulate amount of fluid within the body
- Help regulate blood pressure
- Produce hormones that affect blood and bones
- A kidney is composed of tiny units called nephrons
- Nephrons consist of glomeruli and tubules
- Glomeruli are small blood vessels that filter wastes and excess fluids
- Tubules collect the waste to form urine
How Does Kidney Disease Affect Your Body
Kidney disease can affect you in a number of different ways. These include:
Proteinuria or protein in the urine is frequently the earliest symptom of kidney disease. You will have read, in the previous section, how the kidney works and that the kidney has about a million filters. When the kidney is healthy it allows very little protein into the urine. If these filters become leaky, small amounts of protein will leak into the urine. This is frequently an early sign of kidney trouble long before the kidney function itself begins to deteriorate.
Doctors frequently test patients urine for the presence of blood or protein, to try to detect kidney disease early. There are many causes of protein in the urine, including diabetes and glomerulonephritis. Whilst your doctor will conduct a number of special blood tests, to try to determine the underlying cause, it may be necessary to undergo a kidney biopsy, to establish the exact cause of the protein.
Patients who have very large amounts of protein in the urine, , are described as having nephrotic syndrome. Patients with nephrotic syndrome frequently have swollen legs.
Haematuria or blood in the urine can either be present in amounts that you can see or in amounts that you cannot see in which it is only detected with urine testing. Blood in the urine may not appear red but more like strong tea coloured.
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How Is Chronic Kidney Disease Detected
Early detection and treatment of chronic kidney disease are the keys to keeping kidney disease from progressing to kidney failure. Some simple tests can be done to detect early kidney disease. They are:
It is especially important that people who have an increased risk for chronic kidney disease have these tests. You may have an increased risk for kidney disease if you:
- are older
The Urinary System Is One Of The Bodys Systems Which Helps Us To Dispose Of The Waste Products Naturally Produced Within The Body The Main Structures In This System Are:
- Two kidneys which lie behind the other major organs in the lower back area. They are bean-shaped organs and measure about 11cm long, 6cm wide and 3cm deep. They have 5 main functions, which will be discussed at a later stage.
- Two ureters which run from the kidneys to the bladder carrying urine.
- One bladder which collects urine from the kidneys, via the ureters, and stores it temporarily.
- One urethra through which the urine is excreted out of the body, allowing the bladder to empty and dispose of the waste.
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Components Of Kidney Function Test
The components of the Kidney function test could be broadly divided into two categories.
The tests that are part of the Kidney Function test panel are:
- Urine examination
- Dilution Test
Urine Examination
This examination consists of a physical examination where the color, odor, quantity, specific gravity etc of the urine is noted. Microscopic examination of urine is done to weed out any pus cells, red blood cells casts, Crystals etc.
Serum Urea
Urea is the end product of the protein catabolism. The urea is produced from the amino group of the amino acids and is produced in the liver by means of the Urea cycle. Urea undergoes filtrations at the glomerulus as well as secretion and reabsorption at the tubular level. The rise in the level of serum urea is generally seen as a marker of renal dysfunction especially glomerular dysfunction. Urea level only rises when the glomerular function is reduced below 50%. The normal serum urea level is between 20-45 mg/dl. But the level might also be affected by diet as well as certain non-kidney related disorders. A high protein diet might increase the blood urea level. Similarly, a low protein diet might decrease blood urea level.
Blood Urea Nitrogen
Calcium
Normal Results: 8.5 to 10.2 mg/dlC
Serum Creatinine Level
Dilution Test
Stay tuned with BYJUS to know more in detail about the kidney, kidney function test and importance of excretory system.
The Tubule Returns Needed Substances To Your Blood And Removes Wastes
A blood vessel runs alongside the tubule. As the filtered fluid moves along the tubule, the blood vessel reabsorbs almost all of the water, along with minerals and nutrients your body needs. The tubule helps remove excess acid from the blood. The remaining fluid and wastes in the tubule become urine.
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What Is The Functional And Structural Unit Of A Kidney
The structural and functional unit of the kidney is called nephron. It consists of two main parts viz. the glomerulus and the tubular system. The glomerulus is composed of Bowmans capsule and a tuft of leaky blood vessels encapsulated by the Bowmans capsule. The primary purpose of the glomerulus is filtration. The leaky vessels filter into the glomerulus almost all the water, electrolytes, small proteins, nutrients such as sugar etc and excretory products such as urea etc. The filtration are dependent on the size and charge of the particles. The average pore size is 8 mm and hence particles of only smaller size will pass through. Also, the basement membrane carries a negative charge, hence preventing negatively charged particles from passing through. The tubular system is responsible for reabsorption of most of the water, electrolytes, nutrients as well as excretion of the remaining nutrients by means of secretion into the tubules. These tubules are responsible for the concentration of urine.
A Wet Bed: The 7 Functions Of The Kidneys
An easy way to memorize the 7 different roles that the kidneys play in human health, medical students all around the world often use a simple and funny mnemonic formula: A WET BED.
A – controlling ACID-base balance
T – removing TOXINS and waste products from the body
B – controlling BLOOD PRESSURE
E – producing the hormone ERYTHROPOIETIN
D – activating vitamin D
Lets take a closer look at each of these functions!
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What Are Clinical Trials And Are They Right For You
Clinical trials are part of clinical research and at the heart of all medical advances. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease. Researchers also use clinical trials to look at other aspects of care, such as improving the quality of life for people with chronic illnesses. Find out if clinical trials are right for you.
What Are The Primary Functions Of The Kidneys
About 10,000-15,000 patients receive kidney transplants in America alone. The National Kidney Foundation also notes that one in three Americans is at risk of needing a transplant from developing kidney disease.
One of the best ways to care for any organ is to know more about it. You need to know answers to questions like what are the primary functions of the kidneys and do you need your kidneys to survive?
Read our guide to find out all the essential functions of the kidneys and why theyre so critical to all aspects of your health.
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Kidneys Are A Filter System
The main job of the kidneys is to remove waste from the blood and return the cleaned blood back to the body. Each minute about one litre of blood one-fifth of all the blood pumped by the heart enters the kidneys through the renal arteries. After the blood is cleaned, it flows back into the body through the renal veins.
Each kidney contains about one million tiny units called nephrons. Each nephron is made up of a very small filter, called a glomerulus, which is attached to a tubule. As blood passes through the nephron, fluid and waste products are filtered out. Much of the fluid is then returned to the blood, while the waste products are concentrated in any extra fluid as urine .
The urine flows through a tube called the ureter into the bladder. Urine passes from the bladder out of the body through a tube called the urethra. The kidney usually makes one to two litres of urine every day depending on your build, how much you drink, the temperature and the amount of exercise you do.
A healthy kidney can greatly increase its work capacity. With two healthy kidneys, each kidney performs 50 per cent of the normal kidney function. If one kidney is lost, the other kidney can enlarge and provide up to 75 per cent of the normal kidney function .
What Clinical Trials Are Open
Clinical trials that are currently open and are recruiting can be viewed at www.ClinicalTrials.gov.
This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by the NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.
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The 7 Functions Of The Kidneys
Most people know that the primary function of the kidneys is to eliminate waste products from the body by flushing them out with urine. However, did you know that there are at least 6 other fabulous functions you should thank your kidneys for?
Shaheen Motiwala, MD is one of our nephrologist at Florida Kidney Physicians who loves to educate patients. Here is a brief overview of the 7 primary functions of the kidneys to help patients become more familiar with how these amazing organs work.
What Do Kidneys Do
One of the main jobs of the kidneys is to filter the waste out of the blood. How does the waste get in your blood? Well, your blood delivers nutrients to your body. Chemical reactions in the cells of your body break down the nutrients. Some of the waste is the result of these chemical reactions. Some is just stuff your body doesn’t need because it already has enough. The waste has to go somewhere this is where the kidneys come in.
First, blood is carried into the kidneys by the renal artery . The average person has 1 to 1½ gallons of blood circulating through his or her body. The kidneys filter that blood about 40 times a day! More than 1 million tiny filters inside the kidneys remove the waste. These filters, called nephrons , are so small you can see them only with a high-powered microscope.
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What Hormones Do The Kidneys Produce
The kidneys make two main hormones, vitamin D and erythropoietin.
Vitamin D is essential for a number of different functions in the body. Most of the vitamin D that is in the blood is inactive and it is modified by the kidney and other tissues to activate it. Active vitamin D stimulates the uptake of calcium from food, is important for the maintenance of healthy bones and also helps to regulate the response of the immune system to infection.
Erythropoietin is produced when oxygen levels in the blood are low. It acts in bone marrow to stimulate the production of mature red blood cells, to maintain healthy oxygen levels in our tissues.
The kidneys also produce prostaglandins, hormone-like substances, made from lipid . The substances are one way in which the production of renin is stimulated. Renin is an enzyme, also produced by the kidneys, that plays an important role in the reninangiotensinaldosterone hormonal system, which helps to control blood pressure. In addition to making hormones, the kidneys also respond to a number of hormones including vitamin D, aldosterone, prostaglandins, cortisol, parathyroid hormone and calcitonin.